How to Share Your Beach Photos on Social Media

Your gallery is ready! You’ve picked your favorites. Now you want to share them – but maybe you’re not sure how to get them from Pixieset onto your phone, or how to post them without the compression making them look terrible.

Here’s everything you need to know.

Downloading from your Pixieset gallery

Your photos are delivered through Pixieset, which makes downloading simple whether you’re on a phone or a computer.

On your phone:

1. Open the gallery link from your delivery email.
2. You’ll be asked for a password – that will be in the email, too.
3. Tap any photo to open it.
4. Tap the download icon (arrow pointing down) to save it to your camera roll.
5. To download multiple photos at once, tap “Select,” choose the ones you want, then tap the download icon.

On a computer:

1. Open the gallery link in your browser.
2. You’ll be asked for a password – that will be in the email, too.
3. To download individual photos, hover over an image and click the download icon.
4. To download the full gallery at once, look for the download button in the gallery menu. This will create a zip file of all your images.

A note on file size: Your gallery includes full-resolution files, which are large, and resolution, which are smaller. For printing, always use the full-resolution download. For social media, you can either use the web-res files OR use print-res and your phone will handle resizing automatically when you upload.

Sharing on Instagram

Instagram compresses images when you upload them, which can make photos look softer than they do in your gallery. A few things that help:

Upload at full resolution from your camera roll. Don’t screenshot your photos – screenshots reduce quality significantly. Always download the original file from Pixieset and share from there.

Use the 4:5 ratio for feed posts. Instagram crops square and portrait images differently depending on the aspect ratio. Most of my photos are delivered at a 3:2 ratio (landscape) or 2:3 (portrait). When you post, you can pinch to zoom out slightly to fit more of the image in the frame or just let Instagram crop it and adjust as needed.

Stories and Reels: For Stories, portrait-oriented photos (taller than they are wide) tend to fill the screen best. You can add stickers, location tags, and text over them without covering the main subjects.

Sharing on Facebook

Facebook handles photo quality a bit better than Instagram, especially when you upload from a desktop browser rather than the mobile app.

For the best quality on Facebook:

• Upload directly from your computer using the original downloaded files rather than photos that have already been on your phone for a while.
• When posting multiple photos, Facebook creates an album automatically — this is a great way to share a collection from your session without overwhelming your feed.

Tagging

If you share your photos publicly and want to tag me, I’d love that; it’s one of the nicest things you can do as a client.

• Instagram: @nikkischell
• Facebook: Nikki Schell Photography

You’re also welcome to leave a Google review if you loved your experience. Google reviews make a real difference for a small business and takes about two minutes.

A note on editing/filtering your photos

Your gallery images are professionally edited and delivered ready to share. I ask that you don’t apply heavy filters (especially high-contrast or desaturating filters) to the photos before sharing, as this changes the look significantly from how they were delivered.

Cropping, brightness adjustments, and minor tweaks are totally fine. Just keep in mind that applying a heavy preset removes the color grading that was part of the edit.

Can I use my photos for other things?

Yes, of course – your photos are for personal use, which includes printing, sharing on social media, using as phone wallpapers, holiday cards, and anything else personal. If you’re a small business owner and want to use photos from a session for professional purposes (website, marketing materials), just reach out and we can talk about licensing.

Still have questions?

If you’re having trouble downloading your gallery or something isn’t loading, reach out through your portal and I’ll help you sort it out. Pixieset is usually very reliable, but tech hiccups happen.

Nikki Schell Photography serves families and couples along the Delaware and Maryland coast – Fenwick Island, Bethany Beach, Dewey Beach, Rehoboth Beach, and North Ocean City.